Escape attempt at Colombo Chief Magistrates' Court: Ukrainian shot at

A prison official today opened fire in the Colombo Chief Magistrates' Court premises when a Ukrainian national who had been convicted of committing the murder of eight-year-old Chinese child made an aborted attempt to escape from prison custody.

The shooting caused no harm to the foreign prisoner but a prison official ended up wounded and was taken to hospital.

Mazur Yevgen was brought before Colombo Chief Magistrates' Court over another case by prison authorities.

The Supreme Court had affirmed the conviction and the death sentence imposed against this Ukrainian national for committing the murder of an eight-year-old Chinese child and the baby sitter at Nawala on February 23, 2010.

However, the Supreme Court had acquitted the Ukrainian wife of all charges levelled against her including the murder of two individuals.

On June 16, 2014, Mazur Yevgen and his wife Yana Berezhna were found guilty of murdering an eight-year-old Chinese child and the baby sitter by the High Court Trial-at-Bar Bench.